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The Office of Civil Defense will conduct a metro-wide earthquake drill on Thursday, July 30th after holding a nationwide earthquake exercise on July 23rd. The July 30th drill will be held from 10:30 am to 11:30 am.

Due to the imminent danger of an earthquake from the Valley Fault System – a fault that runs through major cities in the Megacity, another drill will be held for public awareness.

Around 6 Million Participants

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the July 30 drill is expecting around 6 million participants. The drill, experts say, will test the resiliency of Metro Manila’s residents in case a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits the Megacity.

A total of 538 organizations have already confirmed their participation in the drill. This includes hospitals, BPO companies, business groups, malls, transport groups, and religious organizations, according to a statement by Francis Tolentino of the MMDA.

While there will be an hour long drill in the metro in the morning of the 30th, a nighttime drill will also be held in Ortigas from 7:30 to 8:30 pm.

National Telecommunications Commission Text Blast

Two hours before the metro-wide drill, NTC will inform Megacitizens about said exercise through a text blast.

Sirens will be heard by 10:30 am, church bells across the metro will ring, and fire alarms will go off, according to authorities.

Four Quadrants

Tolentino explained that the metro is divided into four quadrants for easier and faster disaster response. The four quadrants are part of the Megacity’s contingency plan.

The northern part of the metro (Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon, and Quezon City), will have a hospital medical triage and relief area with Veterans Memorial Medical Center’s golf course as the quadrant’s evacuation site. The southern sector’s (Makati, Taguig, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Pateros) evacuation site is Villamor Air Base’s golf course. Navotas, Pasay, and Manila’s evacuation area will be at the Intramuros Golf Course. Government officials say, a series of fire drills will be done at the site on July 30th. The eastern sector (Marikina and Pasig), on the other hand, will hold a simulation of collapsed buildings near LRT Santolan.